O18 PROCEEDINGS OF THE GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY. [May 25, 
by Professor Phillips, who has described the direction which these 
blocks have taken during the period of their dispersion ; who also 
mentions the occurrence of these blocks on Stainmoor, a pass in the 
Pennine chain, and their having travelled over some of the hilis 
and valleys of Westmoreland, South Durham, and Yorkshire*. — 
Wastdale Crag, from which these blocks have been derived, is 
a low rounded hill, a little more than four miles N.W. of Tebay 
station, on the Lancaster and Carlisle railway. It is composed 
wholly of porphyritic granite, which, on the western side of the 
granitic area, attains an elevation of about 1600 feet above the 
level of the sea. 
This area of porphyritic granite is flanked, on the western side, 
by ashes and porphyries, which belong to the Bala age; and these 
ashes and porphyries on this sidv, immediately adjoining the gra- 
nite, attain to a greater elevation than the granite, rismg to a 
height of 1853 feet in the summit of Wastdale Pike; and a little 
further westward some of the hill-tops are somewhat higher. 
The granitic area of Wastdale Crag has a somewhat irregular 
outline. Its greatest breadth is from E.S.E. to W.N.W., being 
about two miles across. In a north and south direction, the greatest 
length which it attains is about 12 miler. 
The country for about 1} mile east of Wastdale Crag is some- 
what open and flat, with an elevation of about 1100 feet above the 
sea. 
A short distance further east it sinks down to about 800 feet, so 
that the highest pomt of the granite is about 800 feet above the 
country immediately east of the Crag. 
The district east of Wastdale Crag is the area over which the 
great mass of the granite blocks has been dispersed; but this dis- 
persion is not confined to an eastern course. Large blocks of 
granite are very abundant in the town of Shap, and they can also 
be seen in the walls for a distance of about half a mile west of 
Shap, on the road to Shap Abbey. Their position here is about 
three miles due north of Wastdale Crag, and the blocks, as con- 
trasted with such as are seen in Shap itself, are of a comparatively 
small size. There are, however, some large blocks of rocks in the 
fields between Shap and Shap Abbey, which have received the name 
of “ Thunder-stones.” These are not granite masses, but consist of 
green porphyries, which have come from the high ground on the 
west side of the river Lowther. 
The country which lies east and north-east of Shap exhibits 
great quantities of Wastdale-Crag boulders. In a N.N.E. direction, 
they can be traced six miles from Shap, being seen in the walls and 
* Geol. of Yorkshire, vol. ii. p. 162. 
+ I am indebted to the kindness of W. T. Aveline, Esq., of the Geol. Survey, 
for furnishing me with a tracing of the granite area of Wastdale Crag. 
¢ In many localities where Wastdale-Crag blocks and other large boulders 
occur, they have been removed from their original positions in consequence of 
agricultural improvements. They have been used extensively for walling-pur- 
poses, and, in many spots, large blocks of these rocks have been made use of for 
basement courses of houses and farm-buildings. 
